the left banke

I was listening to Music Choice the other day and heard a song that seemed instantly familiar yet I don't think I'd heard it all that much growing up. It is by the '60s group, the Left Banke, and the song is called 'Pretty Ballerina.' The melody is so incredibly gorgeous and the performance perfect.

I was so intrigued by this wondrous bit of music that I spent some time online looking for information about the band. I suppose they could be called a 'Two-Hit Wonder,' their other more famous song being 'Walk Away Renee.' The Left Banke's career trajectory should have gone on much longer, but they were very young and their management wasn't a good match for them.

From the bit I've read, the song 'Walk Away Renee' was inspired by a real woman named Renee ('Pretty Ballerina' was also inspired by this same woman, as well as at least one other song by the same songwriter). The songwriter was but a teenager at the time he was smitten by her when she first showed up with the bass player.

Here are a couple of YouTube clips:

Pretty Ballerina

Walk Away Renee

There's a Left Banke website with lots of information about them... if you find yourself as curious as I am! There's even mention of a singer named Steven Tallarico in one of the articles, better known today as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. And the Wikipedia article mentions both he and actor Michael McKean from Spinal Tap.